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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27920896">Sea of Lovers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadaBird/pseuds/JadaBird'>JadaBird</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Last of Us (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Gen, Other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:08:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,082</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27920896</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadaBird/pseuds/JadaBird</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Much to her dismay, Ellie finds herself stuck at one of Jackson's town dance because of the undue influence of a few certain someone's. A one-shot that occurs sometime after Ellie's sixteenth birthday.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us), Ellie &amp; Joel (The Last of Us)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sea of Lovers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This little story takes place a little after Ellie's sixteenth birthday expedition with Joel. Enjoy :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><i>In and out</i>. A simple tactical maneuver.</p><p>That was her plan, at least. She would obtain the information she needed, and then she would leave before any funny business could go down.</p><p>It would be easy. <i>In and out</i>.</p><p>But of course, as soon as she had walked into Jackson’s cafeteria-turned-dance-hall, she knew she’d be roped into staying longer than she had intended. That’s always how it was when a town dance occurred.</p><p>There she was, in the middle of the dance floor. Dina. She was going at it next to Jesse, who obviously wasn’t nearly as enthusiastic about the number as she appeared to be. It was also very obvious that she was aware of this fact, for it seemed she was overcompensating on the dramatics just a tad. Her passion seemed to shout <i>I’m dancing for the both of us</i> to all who dared to listen.</p><p>And Ellie always listened.</p><p>Keeping wither her strict plan of keeping this as strategic of an interaction as possible, Ellie attempted to dodge Dina’s line of sight; she traversed the space by darting behind groups of dancers, support columns, and whatever else was large enough in the environment to obscure her figure. She was surprisingly successful, as she had made it all the way to Maria without hearing her name shrieked at her from across the room—which is how Dina typically made her knowledge of Ellie’s presence known. <i>Phase one: complete.</i></p><p>Maria was standing at the snack table, a ladle of blue mystery punch in one hand, ready to pour the stuff into the red solo cup she held in the other. She was alone. </p><p>“Hey Maria, can I talk to you for a second?” Ellie asked in a tone that seemed to dance on the knife's edge between being a whisper and cough. </p><p>Before she could properly pour her drink, Maria set her ladle back into the bowl and turned around to look at who had addressed her. Her face was, at first, annoyed; but it seemed that once she had registered that Ellie was the reason for the interruption, her countenance softened. She set her cup down on the cluttered table before setting her hands comfortably on her hips. “Of course, Ellie. What’s up?”</p><p>“I was, ummm…” Ellie cleared her throat, darting her eyes around the room once more to ensure that she was still concealed within the turbulence of their surroundings. Maria raised her eyebrows. She tried again. “So I know Bonnie was removed from the paired patrol route on Hillside tomorrow, probably because of the cough she’s been having lately.”</p><p> Maria nodded, bringing her hands up from her hips to instead cross them in front of her chest. “Yeah, Tommy told her to stay home for the next few days to let it go through her system.”</p><p>“Well,” Ellie went on, “I noticed on the schedule that Greg still hasn't been paired with a replacement, and I was wondering if I could maybe fill it.” She made sure to finish her request with a nice, cheeky grin for good measure.</p><p>Maria just looked at her. Brought her hands back down to her hips. Sighed. “I…” she started. She stopped. Sighed again. Crossed her arms once more (<i>indecisive much?</i>).</p><p>After a few more moments of uncomfortable tension, she finally responded. “Is Joel okay with this?”</p><p>
  <i>Goddammit.</i>
</p><p>Ellie brought her eyes up to the ceiling. “We’ve talked about it before,” she said, shrugging. She’d try to keep it as vague as possible.</p><p>“Hmm. And?” Maria wasn’t gonna let it slide. <i>God-fucking-dammit.</i> </p><p>“And he didn’t seem entirely opposed.”</p><p>“Ellie.”</p><p>“Look, I’ve thought about it. Greg has been doing the paired patrols for years now, and nothing bad has ever happened to him or his partners. Also, Hillside is literally the safest route to go on. I’ve done it with the group all the time, and we rarely ever come across any Infected. I really do think I’m ready, despite what Joel may believe.” Then she added, under her breath, “I don’t really get why he has that much of a say in it anyway.”</p><p>Maria had kept her eyes down and lips a little pursed during her spiel. After seemingly thinking through her response options for a moment, she finally brought her gaze back up to Ellie’s face. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think you could handle it. You’re sixteen now, and you’ve proven yourself to be very capable.”</p><p>“Mhmmm.” Ellie nodded, eyes widening, excitement quickening her pulse.</p><p>“But the truth of the matter is that it’s not up to me. This is a conversation that is entirely between you and Joel. If I sanctioned this, you know how he’d react. And I’m not looking to get on that man’s bad side.”</p><p>Her pulse faltered as all of that excitement was extinguished, in one fell swoop, from her veins. She drooped her head to catch sight of her own foot sliding around awkwardly on the ground. “Yeah, I figured.”</p><p>Maria walked forward to rest a hand on Ellie’s shoulder. “I’ll tell you what I can do, though. I can talk to him about it. Try and convince him that you’re ready for it.”</p><p>Ellie looked up at this change in direction. Her heartbeat dared to flutter once more. “Really?”</p><p>“I’ll see what I can do,” Maria said with a wink.</p><p>Even though this wasn’t the outcome she was looking for, Ellie resolved to take what she could get. This was a great first step. <i>Mission-essentially-completed (if you squint your eyes a bunch)</i>. “Thank you, Maria.”</p><p>“Of course,” she replied, rubbing her hand warmly on Ellie’s shoulder for a split second before stepping back to the snack table to resume her original task of pouring herself a drink. With her back turned and head thrown to the side, she said “Now have fun tonight, Ellie.” Then she nodded to something behind her. “It seems like someone's expecting you.”</p><p>Ellie turned involuntarily, curious. But before her eyes could land on the subject of Maria’s remark, she already knew who it was. Dina was standing a few feet behind the pair of them. Her arms were crossed, lips were pursed, and eyebrows were raised to the ceiling. She was staring, very obviously, at Ellie. Ellie glanced to the side and noticed Jesse standing in the outskirts of the room, red-faced and breathless. She shut her eyes and cursed internally. <i>Mission-not-essentially-completed. Mission fucking failed. Entirely.</i></p><p>A voice pulled her from the safety of her thoughts. “You can’t hide Ellie.” The bitch had ambushed her.</p><p>Her eyes flew open. “I can if I want to.”</p><p>“Oh, but you don’t really want to.”</p><p>“You don’t know what I want, idiot.”</p><p>“Of course I do.”</p><p>Ellie rolled her eyes after giving her a once over. “And what is that?”</p><p>Dina cocked her head to the side and smiled. “To dance with me.” She then started swaying side to side, hands drawn forward to entice her to join. It didn’t work. Ellie just crossed her arms, settling her weight on her left foot. She purposefully made her stance appear as immovable as humanly possible, more for her own sake than in an effort to dissuade Dina. </p><p>“I’m not gonna stop until you join me,” she sang, spinning around like the ballerina she was so convinced she was. She was slowly inching her way back out into the middle of the dance floor. It wasn’t working. Ellie needed to step up her game.</p><p>“Not gonna happen.” She stayed put, watching from her comfortable position on the sidelines. Her immovable stance shuddering slightly. <i>Don’t you dare.</i></p><p>“Pleeeeaaasssee,” Dina wailed, her voice gaining volume at the vast distance now existing between them. “Just for a little bit. For me.”</p><p>As much as she hated it, Ellie’s resolve was cracking. She tried to conceal this, but it seemed her body was hell-bent on betraying her; her foot started anxiously tapping away at the conflicting thought of wanting to stay, despite her previous efforts. She knew this would happen. Fuck Dina for doing this to her. For always doing this to her. </p><p>Because, as much as she wanted to, she could never say no. For anyone else, she absolutely would have. But never for Dina. </p><p>
  <i>Mission. Absolutely. Astronomically. Fucking. Failed.</i>
</p><p>“Fine. Just this one song,” she yelled to the girl across the room, a warning look in her eye. She held up her index finger as a visual representation of her meaning. And her seriousness. </p><p>She could see Dina tilting her head to the side and biting the left side of her lip, considering the offer. “Okay, fine,” she shouted back begrudgingly, abandoning any attempt to weasel any more out of Ellie. “But C'mon.”</p><p>Ellie had no choice but to comply.</p><p>Her body bobbed up and down with the music as she inched her way across the dancefloor, eyes all the while locked on Dina. Who now had her hand up in front of her smirking face, index finger curling and uncurling in a gesture that said hurry up and get your ass over here. Almost like a parent would to lure their misbehaving child forward to face their grim fate. Or like a temptress would to seduce her chosen lover for the night. </p><p>No. Definitely not like that. </p><p>She gulped, unnerved. Now was not the time for such thoughts. Dina was her friend. Best friend, even. But nothing more. And she was perfectly okay with that. Right?</p><p>
  <i>Right?</i>
</p><p>Her forehead broke out in a nervous sweat as an overwhelming feeling of confusion mixed with desire threatened to consume her. <i>I don’t fucking need this shit right now</i>. For a fleeting moment she considered turning right around, snatching her backpack up from its spot on the floor across the room, and scurrying away into the night like the vermin they often found digging through the waste bins behind the diner. Then she nearly slapped her own damn self right across the face at that ridiculous notion. Because she was no fucking coward. Not in the slightest. </p><p>So, eyes still trained on the girl across the way, she continued snaking her way through the sea of swaying lovers on the dance floor. And that girl across the way kept goading her on with that wagging little finger, pulling her forward like a hooked fish until there was no line left on the reel. No distance left between them. </p><p>“Finally,” Dina announced at her arrival, a wolfish grin dancing across her features. “For a second, I thought I’d have to grab you by the ear and drag you over here myself.”  </p><p>Ellie chuckled. “You could really benefit from some patience.” </p><p>Dina was quick as a whip with her response. “And you could really benefit from some punctuality.”</p><p>“Oh really?” </p><p>“Yes really!” she huffed. “I doubt your lazy ass would even be out of bed right now if I hadn’t woken you up this morning.” </p><p>“That’s totally not true whatsoever,” Ellie said, shaking her head. “And by the way, being punctual and sleeping in aren't mutually exclusive.”</p><p>Dina raised her chin up to get a better vantage point from which to rake her judgemental eyes over Ellie. “Wow,” she said, clicking her tongue. “Pulling out the big girl words now, are we?”</p><p>Ellie shrugged. “Maybe. It’s still true though.”</p><p>“Okay, fine. You’re right or whatever,” Dina conceded, rolling her eyes. “But you still wouldn’t be out here right now if not for me.”</p><p>Ellie snickered, dismissive. “Don’t get any big ideas, loser. Actually, I didn’t come out here for you.”</p><p>“Wha…” Dina’s voice trailed off, jaw dropping open. She placed a hand over her chest like she had been gravely offended. But Ellie could still tell that her grin hadn’t completely dissipated. “Well, what for then?” </p><p>Ellie closed her eyes. “This song,” she answered simply. “I just really fucking love this song.”</p><p>Dina hesitated for one second. Then she scrunched her lips and shrugged her shoulders in agreement. “Fair.”</p><p>Ellie’s eyes shot open in surprise. “Ha! You can’t even argue with that.”</p><p>“I have to admit, it is a pretty good song.”</p><p>“Damn right it is.”</p><p>On cue, both girls fell silent to listen to it. It was getting to the best part, where the intro morphed into a verse that was much heavier. Louder, faster. More intense. Ellie shut off her awareness of everything else around her. The music was the only thing that existed. It echoed within her soul, bounced around the chambers of her mind. It devoured her. As the beats of the drums over the jerry-rigged speakers finally announced the climax, those last remaining morsels of hesitation she had stored deep within her gut were thrown out the window. Because she was dancing now. Really dancing. </p><p>She let herself go. For the first time in who even fucking knows how long. And, oh boy. It was like releasing a ravenous beast from its cage.</p><p>Guided purely by the spirit of the music, she relinquished control of her body. Her movements became wholly wild and unpredictable. Her arms flailed about, so much so that they started whacking into the people dancing nearest her, prompting from them a number of side sneers and eye rolls. But she neither noticed nor cared. Because now she was wiggling her butt and stomping her legs and jerking her body every which way. And when she had finished with all of that, she nearly threw her head back to howl into the night like the animal she was. </p><p>She didn’t though. Because that would have been a tad too extreme. </p><p>In this single, fleeting moment though, she knew she was free. And she basked in that current state of freedom because ever since she had first set foot in Jackson she had felt anything but. There was this itch, one of those really irritating, unscratchable ones, that had been nagging at her for so long she could scarcely remember what her life was like before it. She didn’t know what exactly it was, or why it was bothering her so. But she did know it probably meant that on a subconscious level she was unsatisfied with some part of her life.</p><p>Oh, and that it almost certainly had something to do with Joel. And holy <i>fuck</i> was that confusing as hell. </p><p>Those uncomfortable feelings—whatever the hell they were—had been plaguing her every day for months without her permission. It had become routine. Tonight though, she refused to dive deep into her psyche in a futile attempt to uncover some brilliant, false truth about the universe and her place within it. </p><p>Tonight, she was just a girl dancing with her best friend.  </p><p>Without pausing her movements, she brought her attention forward to see that Dina had, unsurprisingly, matched her in both ferocity and energy. For the girl was thrashing her head from side to side in time with the music, hair whipping around her face like it was caught in the wind of a storm. Then, as the percussive beats of the verse died down to allow for the song’s far more ethereal, whimsical melody to shine through, her dance transformed. She started spinning in circles, arms sticking out on both sides to create massive, protective arcs around her body. Like she was flying. Or, imagined she was, at least.</p><p>Dina’s dance was not graceful. It was not pretty. Her movements were quite jerky, and she had gotten tripped up over nothing but her own two feet more than once. But in the blur that was her face whizzing past, Ellie could see that an endearing little smile was resting there. The kind of smile that neither required nor even expected any attention from anyone else. The kind that existed purely out of inner happiness. And because of that smile and what it meant—really meant—Ellie figured that the scene in front of her was the most stunning goddamn thing she had ever laid her eyes upon. Ever ever ever.</p><p>And she’d seen giraffes before. </p><p>Although she had been hesitant at first, she now couldn’t imagine being anywhere else, with anyone else. Which was surprising, considering that an entire room of bystanders was watching her performance with a critical eye. Actually, the nosy townsfolk of Jackson could not have been further from her mind, for all of the interweaving channels of thought in her brain were all leading her to one place, and one place only: Dina. And while there was certainly a great deal of bliss in that heavenly sphere, a shit ton of uncertainty also existed there. </p><p>
  <i>Well. Just add it to the fucking list.</i>
</p><p>After everything, Ellie still wasn’t sure which role she should play for this girl who could summon her presence at any time with little more than the wagging of an index finger. Was Ellie the naughty child, soon to be reprimanded for the onset of her unwarranted and unwanted feelings? Or was she the swooning lover, whose romantic ideations were both justified and requited? </p><p>She’d probably never have a clear answer because Dina was just so fucking hard to read. It always seemed as though at a moment’s notice, Ellie’s conceptualizations about their relationship would change in response to her mixed signals. She couldn't even remember all the times she would swear Dina was flirting, only to then find her making out with Jesse behind the stables shortly afterward. Always leaving her with that awful feeling of guilt and worthlessness every time she went down that path of thinking maybe one day they could be something more than friends. A feeling that was only ever reinforced when she dared think about how her coinciding and blossoming relationship with Cat fit into this mess. </p><p>So, if Ellie was honest with herself—which she oftentimes was not—she would know that she was neither the child nor the lover. Rather, she was the best friend locked forever in purgatory, never to know if their relationship would bloom into something more. </p><p>But, as she watched the wild creature spinning in circles before her, she realized that—for the moment at least—it didn’t really matter. Not at all. Because right now, Ellie was Ellie. Dina was Dina. And together they were two bright, brilliant stars in space shining down on a sea full of lovers. They had no roles to play. They just existed, and they danced, and they gave zero shits about what anyone else had to say about it.</p>
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